


Falling

by dogpawsnwerewolfclaws



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-10-25 23:33:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17734775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogpawsnwerewolfclaws/pseuds/dogpawsnwerewolfclaws
Summary: Sirius meets an interesting man by the name of Remus Lupin, could this lead somewhere special?





	1. Chapter 1

Sirius groaned, rolling over in bed and grabbing his phone to turn off his alarm. Except it wasn’t his alarm. 

Prongs Calling.

“Fuck.” Sirius said aloud to himself, “fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He answered.

“Hey Jim, funny story…”

“You slept in, you lazy arse,” came James’ voice from the other end of the phone, but he didn’t sound particularly angry, “but I knew you would. You’ve got 30 minutes to get here and still be the best godfather ever.”

“You’re the best Prongs, I’ll be there in 20.” 

True to his word, Sirius strolled up the neat little path to the Potter’s cottage in Godric’s Hollow just 20 minutes later. 

He looked totally out of place here, as an elderly neighbour clearly thought as she peered through her blinds out at him. 

His long black hair was tied up in a loose bun, he wore a pair of dark jeans, a white t-shirt and his signature leather jacket. He’d also just dismounted his motorbike and had the helmet in his hand.   
This quaint little street didn’t look like the kind of place Sirius Black belonged, but it was in fact his second home.

He opened the front door, knowing the Potter’s wouldn’t mind him just walking in, “uncle Padfoot’s here to see the birthday boy!” he called. 

Not even two seconds later a blur of black hair raced towards him, Sirius grinned and bent down; dropping what he was carrying to lift his godson up and spin him around. 

“Happy birthday Prongslet,” he said, as he stopped spinning; putting Harry back on the floor, “oh, you’re getting too big for that,” he added with a laugh, straightening up and stretching his back.   
“Padfoot I got a new broom from mum and dad!” Harry exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down.

Sirius gasped, “a new broom?” of course he’d helped pick out Harry’s main present; but Sirius was a great actor, “you have to show me! Let me go say hi to your parents first, okay? Then you can get your present from me too.”

Harry grinned and nodded, running back through to the kitchen. Sirius grabbed his stuff off the floor and followed. 

He kissed Lily on the cheek and gave James a tight hug, “can’t believe your spawn is four years old already,” he joked,   
James laughed, “we were just saying that, it’s crazy.”

Sirius looked down as Harry was tugging on the leg of my jeans, “can I get my present now please?” he asked. 

“Wow, Harry you’re politer than your dad already,” Sirius said, with a grin at James, “here, kiddo.” 

He took out his wand from inside his leather jacket and a tiny box from the outside pocket, he muttered a spell and the box enlarged, to its original size. He smiled at the awed expression on Harry’s face; no matter what anyone said, growing up in a magical household still thrilled you sometimes. He placed the box down and put his wand in the back pocket of his jeans.

Harry grabbed the box and started tearing at the wrapping. He gasped when the contents of it were revealed; a starter quidditch set. It came with quaffle, bludgers, snitch and beaters bats; all carefully reimagined to be safe for young kids. 

“Thank you Uncle Padfoot!” Harry beamed, giving his godfather a hug. 

Lily looked at Sirius, shaking her head, “look at you, spoiling him again.”

Sirius mussed up Harry’s hair, “he deserves it,” he looked at Harry with nothing short of adoration. 

This kid was the best thing that had happened to any of them.

Harry managed to convince Sirius to watch him test out the new broom in the garden, (which had plenty of privacy wards to keep the muggles out of the loop). Over the next hour or so the Potter’s set up the birthday bash in the garden; as more guests arrived. Peter Pettigrew, James and Sirius’ other close friend was next to show up, then Marlene and Dorcas. 

Molly and Arthur Weasley and their four youngest kids also appeared, they explained that their eldest Bill was watching the other two who had decided to give the party a miss. 

An odd man named Xenophilius Lovegood arrived with his bright blonde haired daughter, Sirius listened to him talk about wrackspurts for a few minutes before Alice and Frank Longbottom arrived with their son Neville and he had a reason to excuse himself to say hello to them.

Two muggles also arrived, but James explained that their daughter is a muggle born witch who had displayed magic very early on and had been allowed to join the classes for young witches and wizards. The wizarding world had been modernised in the few years since the fall of Voldemort; the becoming more open to muggle ideas; such as sending their kids to school before the age of 11. Their classes were only a couple days a week, but they learned about magic as well as maths, writing and reading.

Then the final guest arrived. Sirius hadn’t met this man before, he was tall with curly, sandy brown hair and scars across his face. Even though it was summer he wore a woollen jumper. He was also the most attractive man Sirius had ever seen. 

He went over to James, who was being treated to a thrilling tale by Xenophilius, about the time he successfully saw a real Crumple-Horned Snorkack in the wild but hadn’t managed to tame it or take its horn. His friend looked very pleased when Sirius pulled him away from the conversation.

“Who’s that guy over there?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the new arrival. 

James followed Sirius’ gaze, spotting who his friend was talking about, he was hugging Lily in greeting and adding a present to the over flowing pile. 

“Oh, that’s Remus,” James replied. 

“Remus?”

“Yeah, Remus Lupin,” James began to explain, “he met Lily about a year ago, I think. He started as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

Sirius smiled a little, “he looks like a teacher.”

James snorted, “do you fancy him?” he asked, “he’s been here all of about 30 seconds, Padfoot.”

Sirius shrugged in response, “he’s really cute.”

James laughed and shook his head, “well Lily is very protective of him, she’ll wring your neck if you hurt him.”

“I just said he’s cute James,” Sirius rolled his eyes, “I’m not exactly planning 101 ways to break his heart.”

James raised his hands in defence, “I’m just warning you,” he said, “the bloke’s had a tough life, but if you want I could always float the idea of setting you two up past Lily.”

Sirius thought about it for a second before shaking his head, “nah, it’s fine,” he replied, selecting one of the pieces of cake from the table in front of them, “I’m not really wanting to date right now.”

James shook his head, “Pads, it’s been a year and a half, you need to move on,” he launched into the same speech he gave Sirius every time relationships came up; about how he needs to get back out there, he never knows when the man of his dreams is going to show up etc, etc. 

Sirius rolled his eyes, not listening to James as he took a big bite of birthday cake. Instead he amused himself by watching the kids play. Or, rather oddly, all the kids running away from Harry? Who seemed to be holding something in front of him, threateningly?

“Harry?” Lily called gently, obviously she had noticed the same, “what have you got there?”

“Padfoot’s wand!” Harry replied, gleefully. 

“No!” Lily gasped, lunging forward and picking up her son.

All eyes turned to Sirius; who paused, his mouth still full of cake, and put a hand behind him to feel the back pocket of his jeans. No wand was there.

“The little shit pick-pocketed me!” Sirius said, shocked that he hadn’t noticed. 

“Language!” came Molly Weasley’s voice.

Sirius looked at James. James glanced at Lily. Lily shook her head sternly. James looked back at Sirius. 

The two of them burst out laughing. 

Lily took the wand from Harry and let him go play again, marching over to her guffawing husband and friend.

“One of those kids could’ve gotten hurt, you know,” Lily said, handing over the wand. It was obvious she was trying to keep the smile off her face though.

“Lils, I’m truly sorry,” Sirius said, wiping a tear from his eye, “I just didn’t realise how sneaky Prongslet had gotten, although we should have seen it coming, you and James’ mix of DNA has probably created an evil genius.”

Lily rolled her eyes, “just keep that thing somewhere safe Black.”

She glared as she saw Sirius try not to laugh again, “not the thing I was referring to, you child.”

Sirius and James tried to keep their laughter down as Lily walked away from them.

“I’m honestly shocked that Lily Potter just got mad at someone for laughing at an innuendo,” a voice said, “she certainly is a different person at home.”

Sirius turned, it was the cute guy!

“Hi, I’m Remus,” they shook hands. 

“Sirius, nice to meet you,” he replied, “Lily likes to keep up appearances around the other parents, but we know the real her.”

Remus nodded, “she’s got to be the funniest member of staff at Hogwarts, well except maybe McGonagall.”

“Ah, she may have some years on her, but her wit is sharp as ever,” Sirius agreed, “I do miss Minnie, doubt she misses me.” 

“Pretty sure they talk about you, you’re James’ infamous friend, right? The one he got in all the trouble with?”

Sirius grinned, turning to James; only to find that he’d slipped away. That sneaky bastard. 

He turned back to Remus, nodding, “yeah, that’s me, well our friend Pete helped out in the trouble department plenty too,” he pointed Peter out.

“Ah, well I’ve heard so many stories about your mischief at that school, it’s quite impressive,” Remus continued, a small smile on his face. 

“We had some good times,” Sirius agreed, “where did you go to school? I think I’d remember you if you’d gone to Hogwarts”

Was he flirting? Damn it, he wasn’t meaning to, Remus was just too cute.

“Oh, I was home schooled,” Remus replied, he became a little awkward at this topic, so Sirius decided to drop it.

“James told me you teach defence against the dark arts,” he said, “tough subject.”

Remus shrugged, “I never found it difficult,” he said, “now potions on the other hand, I’m pants at.”

Sirius chuckled, “well being friends with the potions master herself will surely help.”

“Oh, I don’t think even Lily can help me,” Remus laughed a little, “speaking of, she appears to be calling me.” 

Sirius glanced across the garden to where Lily was laughing with Dorcas and Marlene, beckoning Remus over. Dorcas was to be starting at Hogwarts as the new herbology professor in a couple months, no doubt Lily wanted to introduce her to Remus as he worked there.

“It was nice meeting you,” Sirius said, smiling at Remus.

“You too, hopefully this won’t be the only time.”

He walked away and Sirius couldn’t help but watch him. 

Over the next couple hours at the party he couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Remus every now and then. He was just so attractive; when he laughed with Lily, when he talked with his hands about something he was obviously passionate about with Frank, when he joined Harry in playing for a little bit. Then after when he took off that woollen jumper and revealed a smart button down shirt that was just tight enough to show a nice figure…

“Oh, fuck.” Sirius thought, feeling a blush colour his cheeks. He had a crush.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next two weeks there was a certain someone that Sirius just couldn't get out of his head no matter how hard he tried. 

He still had the image of a man with tawny brown hair and striking amber eyes smiling gently as he talked at Harry's birthday party. 

But there was something about this man; something that Sirius couldn't figure out. Like where had he gone to school if not Hogwarts? And where had he gotten those nasty scars across his face? 

Not that Sirius didn't like the scars, they certainly gave Remus an edge and they were very attractive. Especially the one that touched the corner of his mouth and made his little smirks appear just slightly more mischievous, he'd noticed that when he'd been teasing Lily. 

So really, Sirius had been thinking a lot about Remus ever since Harry's birthday. But he had no idea that Remus had also been thinking about him. 

Incoming Call: Professor Evans ;)

"Hey Lils," he answered the phone, "what's up?"

"Are you free for a coffee?" Lily asked. 

“I'm on a night shift so I'll need all the caffeine available."

"Okay great," Lily replied, "I'll meet you at The Busy Bean at 2pm then."

"Right, is this about anything in particular?" Sirius questioned, but he heard no answer, "Lily?"

He looked at his phone, call ended. He glanced at the time. 1:05pm.

Fuck. 

He'd just been counting on a lazy day, he was in his joggers and hadn't even showered yet, considering he wasn't working until late.

He hopped off the couch and hurried into the bathroom, rushing a shower and grabbing some clean clothes.

Sirius arrived at The Busy Bean at 2:10, he felt a little bad about being late, but honestly it was Lily's fault for calling him on such short notice.

Lily was already there, sitting in a quiet corner of the cosy coffee shop. This was his and Lily's place, where they would meet when they wanted a quiet chat away from the stresses of work and parenting. 

People might be surprised at how well Sirius and Lily got along, especially considering the extent to which they take the piss out of each other when they're together with friends. But that was mostly for show. They hadn't liked each other much at school, to be fair Lily didn’t think much of Sirius, James or Peter most of their school lives. 

However, Lily had been on her head girl rounds one evening when she interrupted an argument between Sirius and his brother Regulus. She waited until Regulus had stormed off and watched Sirius sit down on the floor and to her surprise, he cried. 

She went to him and he made some snide remark, embarrassed to be caught at this low moment but she sat next to him and talked about her sister Petunia. They bonded over the feeling of having a sibling they loved but hated all at the same time; they talked about how they tried so hard to prove worthy of their sibling's love, but it never seemed to work.

Ever since then they had been friends, them becoming close helped James with wooing Lily in the end as well. 

He took a seat on the soft leather arm chair opposite the low sofa Lily had claimed, leaning back comfortably. 

She looked up and smiled, "hello Mr Black."

"Professor Evans," he replied with a smirk and a professional nod.

She rolled her eyes but decided not to correct him on her surname yet again. 

"Got you a caramel latte," Lily pushed a large mug towards Sirius, "it just got here so should be warm."

"Thanks, Lils," he took a sip, it was perfect. Very sweet.

"So, why'd we have to meet up on such short notice?" Sirius enquired. 

"Oh well, Harry's back at his magic classes and James is back at work; but the Hogwarts term is still a month off and I'm so very bored sitting at home with nothing to do."

Sirius chuckled, "so, I'm the next best thing after your husband and son? I’m flattered." 

Lily shook her head, "oh sweetie, you were my tenth call," she teased with a wink, "all my better friends had things to do."

Sirius laughed, "how could they be better than me if I'm the only one that dropped everything to save you from your boring housewife life?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, "touché, Black."

She sat up, "okay there may have been an ulterior motive for this coffee date."

"I knew it."

"James mentioned something about you and Remus?" she asked, sounding a little coy.

Sirius blushed, which he is ashamed to admit to. Sirius Black doesn't blush. And the way Lily grinned at him when she noticed how awkward he was getting made it even worse. 

"He was right!" Lily said, triumphantly but with an awareness that they were in public and she couldn't yell, "wow, James is usually clueless about these things, you must've been being pretty damn obvious."

"Remus is an attractive guy, what can I say?" Sirius tried to sound nonchalant as he took another sip of coffee. 

"Oh, please," Lily said, "you, Sirius Black, are blushing!" 

Sirius rolled his eyes now.

"Don't you look at me like that," Lily continued, "you've not had that look on your face for a long time, do you want me to set you and Remus up? He mentioned he’s interested too."

Sirius perked up a bit at that, Remus was interested in him? But after a second of consideration, he shook his head, putting his coffee down again. 

"No, no Lily I'm just..." he said, the truth was he DID want Lily to set them up, he would love an excuse to talk to Remus again, but he hadn't been in a relationship for a long time and the last one didn't end well, Sirius was scared about taking that step again.

"You're never going to truly get over _him_ if you stop yourself from even trying to date someone else, Sirius," Lily said, gently.

Sirius nodded, "I know, Lils," he sighed again, looking down at the floor, "it's just... I don't know. Everything blew up so badly last time, I was so happy one day and the next it was all over. I don't think I can do it again." 

Lily put her hand on Sirius'. 

"Hey, you're forgetting that I know Remus," she said, "I'm his friend and he's one of the most genuine and lovely people I've ever met, he wouldn't hurt you the way _he_ did."

Sirius clasped Lily's hand properly and gave it a squeeze, he took a breath, "okay," he said, "set up a date and we can see what happens I guess."

Lily grinned, "you'll be fine, trust me," she said, "if he even tries to hurt you, I'll kill him first."

Sirius laughed a little. 

"But the same goes for you," she added, warningly, "I love Remus and he's also had it tough. Hurt him and I'll end you."

Sirius smiled, "I trust that you will." 

But it did leave him wondering about how Remus had "had it tough". Did this possibly have to do with the scars and how he didn't attend Hogwarts?


	3. Chapter 3

The week that followed saw Sirius working a lot, unfortunately, so he had to wait a little for his date with Remus. 

In the meantime, Lily had given him Remus' number and they had texted back and forth a little; talking just enough that meeting up for their first date wouldn't be awkward but not too much or they'd have nothing to talk about at all.

After a busy week, Sirius was very much looking forward to going for a drink with Remus, despite being a little nervous at the same time, he knew though that once he had a drink or two down him his nerves would vanish. Well, he hoped anyway.

As Saturday rolled around, Sirius took the rare opportunity to sleep in a little, taking the morning for himself. He ordered in breakfast for a treat and listened to a couple of his favourite vinyl’s. 

After his relatively lazy day he hopped in the shower in the early evening and started getting ready for the date. He spent most of the time making sure his hair was perfect and picking out an outfit, but he still made it to the bar on time since it was just down the road. 

He and James had started coming here a few years back when Sirius first moved to this area. He’d been living in a flat his uncle had bequeathed him; but decided it was too big and draughty for one person and sold it to downsize, moving closer to James, Lily and Harry. 

The pub was the closest place that sold alcohol to Sirius’ flat; when Harry was born, they ended up just going for a pint or two here on the odd occasion because James could never be out for too long and they ended up liking the place a lot; even though it was kind of an old man's pub. Most of the other regulars were retired men, spending their pension on pints and whiling away their lonely twilight years by chatting to the bartenders about the war. But the atmosphere was cosy and friendly, these old men were often too pissed to care much about other patrons; once one of them had put his arm around Sirius and told him that his son was gay too and he was so proud. It had made him and James laugh for days, he knew he was lucky though, that such a traditional seeming place was actually pretty laid back. 

Remus hadn't arrived yet; he ordered himself a gin and lemonade (because tonic is gross) and settled himself into a booth, the opposite side end of the pub from the door so that Remus would spot him easily. 

He hadn't been sitting there long when the door opened, and Remus appeared. His curly hair was windswept, London had been facing an unseasonal gale that day, and his cheeks were a little flushed. It almost took Sirius' breathe away to see him again, after almost a month. 

His date smiled as he spotted him and walked over, "you've not been waiting long have you?" he asked, slipping off his jacket as he sat down opposite Sirius. 

He shook his head in reply, "just long enough to get a drink," he said, "sorry, I would've got you something, but I wasn't sure what you liked." 

"No problem, I'll get something now," he stood up again before Sirius could protest and offer to get him a drink. 

He noted that Remus looked very attractive tonight, he was wearing a long sleeve burgundy button-down shirt, but he’d rolled the sleeves up to the elbow. Sirius could see more scars criss-crossing up the man’s forearms. 

Remus sat back down with a pint of some lager in hand, smiling gently at Sirius. 

“So, St Mungo’s has been keeping you busy then?” Remus asked.

Sirius nodded, unable to respond properly as he was in the middle of sipping his drink. 

“Lily mentioned you’re in the Artefact Accidents department?” Remus continued. 

“That’s right,” Sirius affirmed, “the busiest ward, no matter what other healers might tell you,” he added with a smile.

Remus chuckled, “oh, is there a rivalry?”

Sirius shrugged, “only a joking one, I can make anything competitive.”

“How was your week of back to back shifts then?” Remus asked.

Sirius groaned in response. 

“It’s ridiculous how short staffed we are just now,” Sirius explained, “Roan quit recently, he’s off to Myanmar to work with kids with dragon-pox and Zetta’s baby came early; meaning I’ve had to step into a senior healer role even though I’m not quite qualified until they can find a better temporary replacement,” he shook his head, part of him wishing he’d followed James’ footsteps into the auror office like everyone assumed he would, but despite the hardships he really did love being a healer and wouldn’t change that for the world.  
Remus was still smiling at him, it was distracted. Sirius watched as he finished a sip of his pint, “you definitely have your work cut out for you,” he said, “it’s making me dread next week when I’ll be back to work again.”

“Merlin, it must be a pain getting months and months off in the summer and then having to get back into it all again.”

“Well, it’s my first summer holiday, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment,” Remus agreed, “going from living at Hogwarts where it’s loud, busy, plenty of room to roam the halls and three square meals a day to my tiny box of a flat where it’s too quiet, too boring and I’ve been ordering way too many take-aways.” 

Sirius chuckled a little, “that was my life for about six months after leaving Hogwarts,” he said.

They lapsed into silence for a moment. There was that slight nervousness, the first date tension which occupied the momentary pause. Despite that though, Sirius found himself thinking that he still felt oddly comfortable around Remus, even though they barely knew each other. 

Remus broke the silence, “you must have some crazy stories, in your line of work.”

Sirius grinned and nodded; one of his favourite topics of conversation.

“Remus, you have no idea how many times I’ve had to extract wands from different orifices.”

His date choked on beer as he couldn’t help but laugh exuberantly at Sirius’ words. And with that the tension was gone; all Sirius could think about was making his date laugh so adorably again and again and again. 

The rest of the evening they swapped tales of odd patients and funny students; Sirius countered Remus’ bad pupil stories with some of his and James’ Hogwarts escapades. These seemed to delight Remus but at the same time he kept repeating that he was extremely glad he had never had to teach them. 

At the end of the date, Remus walked with Sirius the five-minute journey to his flat. They said good night and there was another pause, neither wanting to leave first. 

After a moment, Remus leaned down, Sirius stood up a little straighter, moved closer and their lips pressed together.

His eyes fell closed and, even in this chilly night, with his hair being blown every which way by the wind, Sirius had never felt warmer, calmer and grounded. 

Just as quickly, Remus pulled away, “goodnight,” he repeated, taking a step back, giving Sirius one last heart stopping smile before walking away. 

Sirius was hopelessly watching Remus’ back, desperate to call him back to him; but also not wanting to seem too forward on their first date. 

He was rooted to his spot, even after Remus vanished from view around a corner. It wasn’t until he heard the sharp bang of apparition that he knew his date was truly gone, and he headed inside; his mind full of Remus and one perfect kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I wanted this chapter to be up like a week ago but I was ill all week! Anyways, it's here now. Sorry to everyone who's commented, I'm gonna try and actually reply it just makes me weirdly nervous, I'm not ignoring people on purpose I just idk.. anxiety?? But now I'm on chapter 3 I'm really gaining some confidence and want to interact more, I really appreciate every comment and kudos so thank you!!!!


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